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Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

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questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

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and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor

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of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the

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life we're searching for. Well, I'm so happy to be back in the book of Genesis today and

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if you'll take your Bibles and turn to that very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter

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four, is where we're going to be, Finding God in a Chaotic World is the title of our

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message. And we'll be walking through Genesis four through chapter 11 over the next few

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weeks leading up to Easter and I think you might have heard last week if you were here,

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a number of times the statement was made. If you're looking for answers for life's questions,

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begin in Genesis chapter one through 11. And I really believe that with all my heart because

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there you have God's creative revelation. He's telling us everything we need to know

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in those first few chapters of the book of Genesis. So Genesis chapter four, beginning

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in verse one today, as we begin, let me just ask you to imagine a highway for life, a highway

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for life. And imagine for a moment that that highway for life has two choices on it. One

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way is what we would call a narrow way. It's guarded by guardrails. It's very paved. It's

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strong and solid and stable. It's got signs along the way. It's got lights on this roadway

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so that no matter whether it's day or night you see the place that you're going. It even

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has rest stops that you need along the way. It's got a map. It actually has an active

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guide to take you as you go down this highway. That's one road. Then I want you to also imagine

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a different road, an exit off this main road, this narrow road. We would call this a broad

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road. And no matter where you are, you can get off the main road and get on this broad

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road. Now this broad road is very different from the main road, the narrow road. The broad

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road is not paved. It's not solid. You're not sure what you're going to have on the

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other side of the hill that you're heading for. It's not lit up. It has no lights. It

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has no signs, no maps, no guides. And you don't know where you'll end up if you take

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that road. In a very real way, Genesis chapter four is about the story of two roads. One

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is one that God has given us. It's lit. It's paved. It's predictable. It's clear. It has

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guardrails and you know where you'll end up. But the other road is the road that anyone

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can choose to go on and it can lead almost anywhere. When you read your Bible, Genesis

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chapter one and two, it's an amazing picture of God's creation and the beauty of His creation,

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the clarity, the power of His creation, the power of who He is, and the amazing provision

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that He gives us in those two chapters is just incredible. Seven day creation, God is

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at work every day. He speaks and things come into existence and they still go as they went

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when He created the heavens and the earth. Now Genesis three is the picture of the fall

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of mankind. Adam and Eve are in the garden and they make choices that God has forbidden

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them to make and temptation takes place and sin takes place and they step off the highway

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that God has built for them. God comes and finds them in the garden and makes provision

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for that sin and brings them back to a place close to Him. But Genesis chapter four is

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the chaos man creates as a result of getting off the road and continuing their own way.

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Genesis chapter four is that broad road. Genesis chapter four is a group of people that move

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in a different direction from the direction God has given them and you begin in chapter

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four saying this road that ends in catastrophe and that many are still on. It's really the

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story of Cain and Abel and the choices they make and how they worship God and how they

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even came about. What you stand with me as we read Genesis chapter four, I'm gonna read

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16 verses there. Now the man that would be Adam had relations with his wife Eve and she

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conceived and gave birth to Cain and she said I've gotten a man child with the help of the

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Lord and we're gonna spend some time in verse one in a bit. Verse two again she gave birth

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to his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of the flocks but Cain was a teller of the

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ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the

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Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his

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flock and their fat portion and the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain

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and for his offering he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance

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fell. Then the Lord said to Cain why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen?

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If you do well will not your countenance be lifted up and if you do not do well sin is

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crashing at the door and its desire is for you but you must master it. Cain told Abel

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his brother and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel

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his brother and killed him. The Lord said to Cain where is Abel your brother and he

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said I do not know am I my brother's keeper? He said what have you done? The voice of your

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brother's blood is crying to me from the ground now you are cursed from the ground which has

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opened his mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the

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ground it will no longer yield its strength to you you will be a vagrant and wanderer

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on the earth. Cain said to the Lord my punishment is too great to bear behold you've driven

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me this day from the face of the ground and from your face I will be hidden and I will

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be a vagrant and wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord

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said to him whoever therefore kills Cain vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold and the Lord

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appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from

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the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod east of Eden. Father in Jesus

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name illuminate this for us such an important part of this very first family and the directions

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they took help us be warned and encouraged about the right way we should go and we ask

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this in Jesus name. All God's people said amen be seated if you would. Well there's

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so many verses here it won't be possible for us to really cover all of these the way

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we would like to but it is possible to hit the high points in this story in this text

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because it really is such an important thing. In this room today are two different kinds

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of people. There are the people who embrace what God says in Genesis chapter one through

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chapter eleven and who find answers and clarity for the reality of life in those answers.

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There are those that are coming at worship in a different way who have their own ideas

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their own thoughts and they're part of that broad way that we spoke of just a moment ago.

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But what I want you to do today I want you to know that God makes it possible for us

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to find him in even the darkest of situations. He makes it possible for us to find him in

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true history and in true worship. Those two things are the priorities today. And when

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I say true history I'm talking about the history of the creation of the world. You're going

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to find some things out today about how important it is to understand and to lean into the creation

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of the history of the world as we have this account from God that I bet you've never heard

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before. There's some things that I'll say today that I did not know until this past

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week some interesting insights and some important things that we have to hold on to. I want

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to encourage you today to lean into the creation account that God gives us in Genesis chapter

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one all the way through chapter eleven because the fluidity we have in this world today and

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the absence of absolute truth and the morality that has gone in a different direction are

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the result of not leaning into and leaning on what God says took place in Genesis chapter

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one through chapter eleven. We're even going to see how Abel and Cain have a different

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view of how God created it even then at that time. I also want to say this I think it's

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very important for us to acknowledge that the majority view in populations today about

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creation is not biblical creation. It is not God as creator but the majority view the view

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that more people have than any other category is the view that evolution has taken place

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that God is not required to bring about the world that we have today and all kinds of

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philosophies and theories about how it came into being are the majority view today. What

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that means is that among us the people of the church of Jesus Christ we must get behind

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and encourage especially our younger generation to find their answers in the book of Genesis

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and to be equipped to have conversations with those that do not believe as we believe but

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have conversations in a persuasive loving way with our culture because we are outnumbered

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in what we believe versus those who believe in a very very different way. So let's go

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to Genesis for just a few moments and see what we can find out about key questions about

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how to find God in chaos and where to find him and how to be able to defend that. Number

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one this text tells us that you can find God in history and when I say history I mean true

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history. The history of creating and framing the world that we live in by the creator God

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who at the end of chapter two and at the end of all these creative acts said not only was

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it good but he said it was very good. And one of the biggest battles we face today is

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the battle for the truth about true history about this creative history and nowhere is

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it more evident than the issue of creation itself. The questions that our culture is

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asking today is did God really create the heavens and the earth or did they come about

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by evolution a big bang theory and some other things that created the world that we have

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today or is it some mix of the two? Is there a God who somehow allowed evolution to make

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it take place so that it all happened but also science is right as well? And I just

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need to tell you today that science will position itself against the God of creation and the

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revelation of scripture. You're going to have to make a choice because when you blend those

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two the Bible becomes impossible to truly understand if you're really trying to read

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in evolution to the creation account there's no way you can see exactly what God is saying

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and what he is doing and what he has for us. It's so important for us to come to the place

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of leaning in on what God said. Now the Bible, God's word was written so that we might have

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an accurate history of the world from the beginning and to believe in the God who created

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it. I'm going to link those two truths together today in a very very important way because

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the Bible helps us to understand how God created but he also helps us to understand that he

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created the heavens and the earth so that we can not only worship him for all of his

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power and all that he did but we can see why and how he did all this and how we then interact

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with people around us. I have to tell you that atheist and scientist and others who

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want to create doubt about the historical record of creation have not succeeded in eradicating

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the creation account. All they've succeeded in doing is creating skepticism and doubt

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among those that wrap their minds around that. But if you buy into the man-made view of the

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creation of the world you'll struggle to find God in it. In fact you'll struggle to find

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God anywhere. If God didn't create heavens and the earth then what right would he have

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to interfere or to intervene into it? If life is not about God's purpose and plan then where

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do you find a purpose and plan in life? If there is no meaningful reason why things that

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are difficult happen to us then everything is chance. Nothing is worth living for. You're

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going to find it difficult to worship a God, the God of creation if you don't lean into

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his creation account. And that creation account is taught at churches, the pillars and grounds

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of truth. It's taught in homes where truth is passed on to the next generation. It's

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taught in certain schools that embrace this idea of biblical creationism. All these things

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are so important but we are in the minority and we need to know how to defend our faith.

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Here's what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to come to the place where you

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acknowledge that many just will not buy into the creation account therefore they will not

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believe your answers and believe your understandings of how God created and what it all means.

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And I'll answer a few of those questions that come up over and over based on Genesis chapter

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4 just a moment. But you're just going to have to accept the fact that not everyone

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will agree with you. And not everyone will agree with the Bible. But you also have to

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accept the fact that all of our choices and all of our consequences and all of the fluidity

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we find in life with every subject on the planet have to do with not being willing to

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buy into, to leaning to God's creative history and the Word of God itself, the truth.

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So here we go today as we begin to look into this. You can find God in history. We have

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a biblical worldview and this is the view that informs us with all the answers we need

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to have. So what does this true history tell us? Well go to chapter 4 verse 1. Let's read

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that again very slowly. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve. Now please keep in mind

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Genesis 1 through 3 God has given us great details about creation and the world and the

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earth and Adam and Eve and now he's giving us further detail about how the families of

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the earth move forward. Now the man had relations with his wife Eve and she conceived and gave

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birth to Cain. And she said I've gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. Now if

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you and I are going to lean into biblical history we're going to find answers to cultural

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questions right here in verse 1. If you're going to lean into the account that God gives

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us in the book of Genesis we're not going to be confused about what the rest of the

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world says about things like marriage and sexuality and gender and all the confusion

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and fluidity we hear today. We're not going to have questions. We're going to have answers.

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We're going to know what God's design is. Let me give you an example of that. There are

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four questions that I believe this text answers for us today and in doing so we can see God's

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presence in what he says to us. First of all what does this text say about biblical marriage?

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Now if you go back to the verse and answer the question what does this text say about

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biblical marriage? It says that God designed for one man and one woman to be married and

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that's the pattern God gave us from the beginning. The original man Adam had relations with the

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original woman created out of Adam who is Eve and she conceived and gave birth. So that

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says that God has a pattern. One man one woman for life and he designs for them to be together.

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Now four thousand years of human history pass between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

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and the Lord Jesus walking on the face of the earth. And one day Jesus is in conversation

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with a group of people who ask him about divorce but he answers a question in a different way

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than they imagined and he affirms the creation account in doing so. Matthew 19 verse 4. Jesus

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said have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and

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female. In other words from the beginning God created marriage to be one man and one

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woman and from the beginning that's been true. So what Jesus is doing is he's affirming the

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true and indisputable creation and design for mankind. He's simply saying this is what

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I created marriage to be and this is what it should be. But he answers the second question

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in Genesis chapter 4 is what does this say about sexual relations? And it says that the

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man had relations with his wife Eve by design heterosexuality is enormity. It's a predetermined

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plan that God had for mankind. In fact that's the only plan God had for sexuality. It's

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not one of many on the ranges of a spectrum of sexuality or gender but again Jesus affirms

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this in Matthew chapter 19 again four thousand years ago. Now just imagine for a moment four

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thousand years going by hundreds of millions of people being born and living and dying.

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All these philosophies all these different kinds of ideas about marriage or sexuality

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and after all this time passes Jesus again refers back to creation and says no this is

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the only design that God has. Matthew 19 verse 5 it says and he said for this reason a man

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shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh

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so they are no longer two but one flesh. Now I know we live in a culture that asks a lot

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of questions and they don't always start from the same place we start from when we start

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from the Bible. They come from a perspective of relativism or atheism or they come from

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the perspective of just secular thought. So their ideas about these questions are going

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to be very very different. That doesn't mean that we can't love them. It doesn't mean that

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we can't have a conversation with them. But what it does mean is we're going to have to

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agree to disagree but we need to know why we disagree. We disagree because the Bible

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tells us one way and the world tells us a very different way. And until a person is

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willing to come to the place of seeing what God did and why God did it they may never

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agree with us completely. But we can lovingly tell them this is the creation account that

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God gave us. This is where we stand and we lovingly reach out to anyone else that disagrees

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in any way with that. It's very important for us to have an incredible witness in the

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world with people that will vehemently disagree with us. Now there are times when I've had

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conversations where people would say that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality

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or homosexual marriage but when they say that and when they ask that they forget that marriage

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is affirmed by Jesus as exclusively a man and a woman. And by virtue of that it excludes

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every other kind of marriage not his design. Jesus very clearly said there are two genders

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in marriage and these are the two genders that he created a male and a female and only

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this marriage in the eyes of Jesus Christ is one flesh. Nothing else is acceptable to

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God or the scripture and God of course is that creator. So we have that answer. Then

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there's another question we can ask. What does this say about biology and childbirth?

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Do you notice what the verse says verse one? She conceived and gave birth and of course

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that's not unexpected. We know that's one of the primary purposes for sexual relations

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between a man and a wife but it also goes on and says with the help of the Lord. Now

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there's something being communicated here for us today. These words imply the miraculous

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and sacred acknowledgement that God is in this whole process of conceiving and giving

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birth and that bounds a marriage. Really a beautiful powerful picture. Somehow in our

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world we have so devalued conception, so devalued children and childbirth and that whole process

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that we don't see them as being with the help of the Lord. It's not just a biological

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miracle it's the fact that God weaves people in the womb. He creates and weaves us in the

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womb it says in the book of Psalms. And if you go through the Old Testaments you're

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going to find Hannah talking about how she conceived with the help of the Lord and the

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psalmist talking about that powerful miracle that goes on inside of the womb. And let me

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just say to you today you're not an accident of birth either no matter how it was you were

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conceived. God was aware, God knew he wove you in the womb. You are a valued being because

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God was involved with that process. Aren't you glad that's true? But our world would

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say that it's not true. Our world would prefer to think there is no value and that therefore

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anything conceived is not truly a person, not truly valuable. I remember when we first

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had our first child I was so mesmerized by the whole process and I know I'm the guy and

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I know the woman is the one that actually gives birth there's no question about it.

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She has the harder job. But I remember being in that birthing room this was during the

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era where they were first starting to let men in that birthing room and I'm telling

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you I got so excited about it I was really asking questions. After our daughter was born

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I actually said can I help somebody else do that? Can I see this again? And I meant right

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away. I didn't mean another year down the road I meant right away you know and they

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had to correct me and say back off you're a little bit too overcome with joy there in

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the moment. But what a miracle. Our child with features from both my wife and myself an amazing

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thing. What an incredible miracle God does in giving us birth and it goes all the way

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back to Genesis chapter 4. Listen if we can affirm that and see the beauty of that in

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Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 why cannot we embrace all the other parts of that? They all go together.

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They all go together. God speaks about biology and childbirth. Every child is a child from

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conception and is valued and to be preserved. What an important truth for us. A fourth question

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this verse answers is what does this say about gender clarity? Notice immediately the biological

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birth of a boy leads them to declare the gender at birth. I have gotten a man child with the

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help of the Lord. Gender is not a decision to be made later on. Gender is an acknowledgement

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and a declaration of exactly what you have when that child is born. Our culture would

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say something entirely different but here's why we disagree with that. Because from the

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beginning it's been clear that God wove that child in the womb and at birth sometimes today

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before birth we know the gender of that child and at that moment we simply declare what

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that child is. I've gotten a man child from the Lord. Listen when we stay on the road

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that God has placed for us there's a lot of clarity but when you get off that road you

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make your own way, your own rules, your own ideas, your own thoughts, your own gender,

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your own sexuality, your own everything else. You have no idea where that destination goes

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but it's a way from the direction of the Lord. You can find God in history, in true history

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when you go back and when you look at how he created the heavens and the earth. But

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this text is not just about that. Verse one lays some great truths down but this text

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is really about true worship. You can find God in worship. This is the story of Cain

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and Abel and the difference in how they worship God. So the Bible says in the course of time

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they came and brought an offering to the Lord. Now we've got some presumptions here. I

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presume and most scholars presume that Adam and Eve's experience with God after they

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sinned God slew an innocent animal, blood was shed, sin was covered, relationship was

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restored. That that truth was passed on to Cain and Abel in the course of time. So when

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they came they understood that original pattern of worship, the original pattern that God

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had with Adam and Eve and they came in the way they came to God having had some information

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about that. That's presumed because it doesn't actually say that. But it seems logical to

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be able to pass down to your children the most important thing that you can do in worshiping

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God. I'm sure Adam and Eve did that well. But here's what the Bible says when these

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two came to the Lord with an offering. In verse four and five it says, and the Lord

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had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So

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Cain became angry and his countenance fell. Now if you read the Bible you're going to

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find many, many instructions about how to worship God and the spirit in which you worship

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him, different commands about what you do when you worship. And it begins with that

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seventh day of rest when God rested and called man to just look at all of creation and marvel

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at what God had done. And that was a day of rest. And so God has built worship into the

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fabric of our week as a regular devotion to the Lord in life. That's just part of what

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God laid down at the beginning. And let me just say it to you, I know I'm preaching to

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the choir today in a sense because you're in the room. But how important it is for you

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to be in the room corporately worshiping God with other people. How important it is for

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us to marvel together at our powerful God and how he works and intervenes and how he

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loves and reaches out. It's so incredibly amazingly important for us to be standing

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next to people side by side worshiping him with our whole heart. It's so encouraging

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but it's so important to you because you know you're never alone. And you know your God

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is working in your life. You experience his presence in your life. It's such a big deal.

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But these verses here tell us that God will look favorably upon some worship and he will

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look unfavorably on other types of worship. And you're going to need to know this. This

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takes up such a huge part of our lives. Since worship and service are all we can offer God,

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worship is vitally important. And we can assume several things about this worship experience

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but here's what we can know. We can know that the scripture, the words we've just read,

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emphasize the person before it emphasizes the manner of worship. Go back and see what

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it says again in verses four and five. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.

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For Cain and his offering he had no regard. In other words, before we actually worship

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we should offer our heart. We should offer ourselves to the Lord. Before we offer our

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songs, before we offer our offerings or anything else, we offer ourselves to the Lord. And

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realize that worship experience is really about sinful man coming to worship a holy

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God. And remember we don't do this casually. We don't take this lightly. It's a very, very

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serious privilege we have of being able to worship God and really be able to connect

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with him. But let's learn some lessons from Cain and Abel. First of all, Abel worshiped

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by faith. Cain did not. Abel worshiped by faith. Cain did not. Now the reason we know

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this is because this worship experience is also repeated several times in scriptures

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and referred back to. If you go to the book of Hebrews, the hall of faith, that great

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chapter, chapter 11, it says this about Abel. It says, for Abel he offered to God by faith

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a better sacrifice than Cain. The American standard begins with the words by faith. By

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faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice. Now if you want to know the difference between

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the two, here's where you start. Because the New Testament clarifies why this sacrifice

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was so different. It's such a simple line. But I think what you're going to find is that

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it opens the door to significant worship in your life or it closes the door to significant

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worship in your life. Abel brought an offering to the Lord with a pure and worshipful heart

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as faith and his trust was in God and not in himself. We know that much because he came

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by faith. Now if you take Hebrews chapter 11 and read verses one through verse four,

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you're going to find out how that's defined in Cain and Abel's situation. So let's go

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back and read verse one. Now faith is the assurance that things hoped for, the conviction

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of things not seen. For by it the man of old gained approval, referring all the way back

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to Cain and Abel. By faith we understand, guess this, that the worlds were prepared

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by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

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By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice. Don't miss this. Do you see the connection

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between his worship and his view of creation? Do you see a connection between his worship

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and his view of who God was? He believed that God created his world and himself and therefore

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because of that kind of faith in this God who created not only the world but himself,

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he leaned on God, he trusted God, he sought God, he listened to God and he would be changed

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by that worship experience with God. He acknowledged that God was the creator, that he is able,

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that he's all powerful and all wise. His worship revealed so much about his heart, he considered

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that the God he worshiped made the worlds out of things which are not visible. So powerful.

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In Luke chapter 16 along about verse 31, Jesus is talking about the man in hell in Hades.

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And the man in hell in Jesus' story appeals for someone to go tell his brothers about

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the Messiah. And Jesus in Luke chapter 16 verse 31 said this, if they will not listen

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to Moses and the prophets, neither will they listen if one comes to them from the dead.

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But in other words, if you can't believe Moses, the cat of creation, if you can't believe

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the prophets that point to Jesus, then you're not going to believe if Jesus comes to you

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from the dead and appears in front of you. You need to believe the whole revelation of

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God. You need to believe the picture of who God actually is. And Abel was able to do that.

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He looked at his world and the creation that he was placed in. And he basically said the

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world is yours and I am yours. I bend my knee to you. And Cain did not. Cain did not. We're

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told by that contrast that Cain did not worship by faith. So his view must have been the opposite

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of that, which is this world is mine and my life is mine. I'll acknowledge you however

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I want, but my life is mine. Let me tell you, that's so common today for people to come

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to God and say, you are who you are. I'll give you what I want to give you. My life

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is mine. This world is mine for the taking. But there is a certain kind of worship that

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God approves of and a certain kind of worship that God does not approve of. And that was

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Cain's approach to God. You know, worship is incredibly important and we see that here

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in this passage. Not only was faith the difference maker, but Abel worship and obedience in Cain

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did not. Now, Genesis doesn't say a great deal about Cain from this point on, but 4,000

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years later the New Testament church in the book of Jude does. And it describes what we

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know as creepers in the book of Jude. False teachers, people who are going their own way,

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who are trying to corrupt the New Testament church and the word they describes those people.

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But in Jude chapter one, verse 11, it says, for they, those creepers, have gone the way

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of Cain. In other words, that phrase by now has become an acceptable and understandable

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phrase of what went wrong back then in Genesis four. They have gone the way of Cain and for

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pay they've rushed headlong into the era of Balaam and have perished in the rebellion

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of Korah. So stay with me here. Jude describes people like Cain who disregarded God's command

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and made their own way, made their own worship. They were making a show of worship, but their

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hearts were far from God. In a word, Cain was simply rebellious. His refusal wasn't

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accidental. He intentionally and fatally ignored God. And that only did God, did Cain fail

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to have faith in God and obey God. Cain's way of dealing with God became a downward

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spiral for everything else in his life. I mean, this is heartbreaking. How can the first

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child of the first two human beings look at creation, look at God, look at himself and

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all the animals and plants and everything in the world and say, I'm going to go my

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own way. I don't need to worship that God. I want to tell you today, it's difficult for

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us to grasp why sometimes our own children in 2023 don't follow the Lord. Some of you

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have grief in your heart. I know what that's like. I know what that feels like to have

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kids that we've taught the truth, but who turn their backs on God for one reason or

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another. But can you imagine that in the very first generation? Can you imagine that with

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the very first son that Adam and Eve had? As you go even further back, can you imagine

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even Adam and Eve deciding to disobey God in the Garden of Eden? What does that say

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about the free will of man? And what does that say about just the grief of going our

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own way and moving off the road that's narrow but true that God has given us to walk on?

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But here's an encouraging thing in the middle of it all. Look at God's appeal to Cain. I

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just love this. Sometimes I weep about this. In Genesis chapter three when Adam and Eve

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sinned, God came looking for them in the Garden. Isn't that a great picture? Because God was

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going to do everything to give them the opportunity to be restored and He did restore them. He

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does the same thing to Cain. He reaches out. He says, if you do well, verse seven, will

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not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the

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door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it. Here's the appeal of a merciful

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God, a loving God, and the kind of appeal that we need to have for people all around

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us. Don't you know you have a choice to make? God offers you a choice so that you can come

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back to Him. But in spite of personally conversing with Cain, Cain ignores God. Cain goes his

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own way. And the rest of his life can be described in four quick statements. Cain became a man

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who became angry. Cain killed Abel. Cain lied to God. Cain is judged. What a horrific ending

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that didn't have to happen, but did because this man would not worship God. Listen today,

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we have so many that have to make choices today, and it all comes down to worship. Who

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will we worship? Who will we lean into? Who will we trust? Who will we obey? Who will

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we worship? And how we worship affects everything in our lives. Everything. What you believe

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about the Bible affects you whether you know it or not. And throughout the Bible there

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are all these encouraging lines that I want to remind you of today. Lines where God consistently

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says, seek me and you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart. And almost

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every one of those times that those words are spoken, they're spoken into a dark time,

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dark cultures, most going in the wrong direction. And then there's this invitation, just like

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in the Garden of Eden, just like with Cain for us in those times. I want to remind you

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of some of those. David told his son Solomon at the beginning of his reign, if you seek

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him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Solomon

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later wrote the Proverbs and affirmed this about God and about wisdom. I love those who

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love me and those who diligently seek me will find me. You can find God in darkness. God

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spoke to the prophet Jeremiah. This is the famous text, chapter 29 verse 13. You will

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seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. What an encouraging

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word. And then Jesus said the same thing in that, in Matthew chapter seven, verse seven,